MAY 23, 1974 – George Harrison announced the launch of his own record label called Dark Horse. Harrison had recorded for the Parlophone and Apple labels under a contract that terminated in 1976, and all of his subsequent recordings would released through Dark Horse, starting with “Thirty Three & 1/3” in 1976 and ending with the posthumous release of “Brainwashed” in 2002. Harrison’s Dark Horse back catalog was remastered and reissued in a box-set during 2004.
The inspiration for the Dark Horse logo came from a label on a tin box Harrison saw on one of his many trips to India. The logo features the seven-headed horse Uchchaisravas, a common figure in Indian art and mythology. Harrison was arguably a dark horse in seeking a solo career after having been overshadowed among The Beatles by Lennon and McCartney, despite his creating several of the band’s more popular later songs (such as “Here Comes the Sun” and “Something”), and being the first ex-Beatle with a #1 solo album (1970’s “All Things Must Pass”).
Though Dark Horse ultimately focused solely on Harrison’s releases, the label also released albums by several artists between 1974 and 1976 including Ravi Shankar, Jim Keltner’s band Attitudes, Splinter, The Stairsteps and Keni Burke (a member of the Stairsteps), Henry McCullough, and Jiva.
